My quintet has become mine.
Amadeus must have something I can use to bring him down. Whether it’s a true death or just a steep fall from power, I’ll do whatever it takes to find a way to defeat him. No one will endanger my future with my men ever again, but least of all him.
But the Frosts don’t need to know that we have a mutual interest.
“Even if it was,” I say, fixing them with my most deranged death glare and enunciating well so they won’t miss this. “I will watch Amadeus’s power consume this world and everything in it before I lift a single fucking finger to help megalomaniacal cowards as morally repugnant and soulless as you two.”
For a moment, they stare at me in wide-eyed, fearful disbelief. A few of the ghosts applaud my string of insults. The redhead girl tries to punch through Daphne’s face, but of course only passes harmlessly through the unwitting socialite.
Everett beams at me.
Godsdamn, that one dimple is just so fucking kissable.
Finally, Daphne sputters, “Surely, you don’t mean that.”
“Every fucking word.”
“But this is your one chance to avoid public humiliation and a death sentence at the trial,” she protests. “You must suffer from insanity!”
“Not really. Most of the time, I enjoy it.” I tip my head. “Speaking of insanity, where is my fae? If he’s been harmed at all, you’ll need to arrange for your funerals before the fake trial begins.”
“You dare threaten me in my own safe haven?” Alaric barks.
“You laid a hand on what’s mine.Safeno longer exists for you,” I darkly inform him.
Someone knocks on the door, interrupting whatever the Frosts would have sputtered next. When the very irritated Alaric calls for them to come in, the door opens and?—
Oh, my fucking gods. No way.
Bertram.
25
MAVEN
With his spray of freckles,handsome features, and that shock of red hair, the vampire who caused my failure six months ago is unmistakable as he dashes into the room with vampiric speed, dressed in a sharp suit. He whispers something in Alaric’s ear, unaware of the nearby ghosts who lean close to hear whatever he’s saying.
Thisis the vampire they’re using to contact Amadeus?
Obviously, he’s one hell of a bargainer if he outlived his usefulness to the Entity long enough to set all of this up, prove his value, and therefore be kept alive. He has the survival skills of a bright red, unbelievably fucking annoying cockroach.
I stare down the bloodsucker who killed his immortal lover to save his skin until he finishes speaking quietly with Alaric and straightens. He makes direct eye contact with me and has the nerve to fucking smile.
To everyone else, it looks pleasant.
To me, it’s pure mocking.
“You must be thetelum,” he says in a light accent.
I smile back, conveying that I’ll rip his head off once I’m out of this contraption. “Bertram.”
Daphne’s brows go up as she looks between us. “I see no introductions are in order. Have you met thetelumbefore, Bertram?”
“Not at all,madame.Pardonne-moi,” he adds before leaving the room just as swiftly.
Godsdamn it. He’s going to run. He knows this place is compromised since I’m about to rain down hell on the assholes living here when I figure out how to escape. With survival skills that good, Bertram will disappear long before I have the chance to add him to the piled-up bodies.
When I swear under my breath, Everett leans as much as he can in his straitjacket to catch my eye.
